Italian Open: Naomi Osaka loses to Jessica Pegula, Serena Williams returns
Japan’s Naomi Osaka suffers her second straight defeat on clay by losing to Jessica Pegula in the Italian Open second round.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka suffers her second straight defeat on clay by losing to Jessica Pegula in the Italian Open second round.
Watch as Novak Djokovic shouts at the umpire during his Italian Open second-round win against Taylor Fritz over playing conditions.
Alexander Zverev arrives in Rome having to make a quick adjustment from the altittude in Madrid, where on Sunday he lifted his fourth ATP Masters 1000 trophy. But the German doesn’t mind doing so as he gets set for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, which he won in 2017.
“It’s a good problem to have. If you are coming so late from Madrid, it means you’ve done well,” Zverev said. “I would like to have that problem always at tournaments.”
Zverev is fresh off an impressive performance at the Caja Magica, where he beat Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Matteo Berrettini en route to the crown. Before Madrid, he did not win more than one match at each of his previous three tournaments.
“It was a week that I didn’t expect to be honest,” Zverev admitted. “Obviously I’m extremely happy with winning my fourth Masters [1000 event], my second in Madrid. It was a week that I think I’ll remember.”
Now the trick will be to keep his level high in Rome, where he owns an 11-3 record. In addition to his championship run in 2017, Zverev made the final in 2018, when only Nadal was able to stop him.
“Usually when I find my form, I don’t have a problem maintaining it. If you look at the past history a little bit, when I won Madrid in 2018, I made finals here,” Zverev said. “Doesn’t mean I’m going to make finals here again. I hope I can continue this.
“This is obviously a completely different event, completely different conditions. I need some getting used to time. Yeah, I hope I continue playing the same way. We’ll see how that goes then.”
The sixth seed will begin his tournament against Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien, whom he beat in the Geneva quarter-finals two years ago in three sets. The winner will play Kei Nishikori, whom Zverev defeated 6-3, 6-2 in the second round in Madrid last week.
“I’m looking forward to this week,” Zverev said. “I’m looking forward to being able to back my form up. I hope I can do that.”
On a rainy Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Kevin Krawietz teamed up with Horia Tecau to take out Marin Cilic and Marcelo Melo 6-4, 6-2. Krawietz and Tecau have appeared in the Barcelona and Rotterdam finals together this year.
Seventh seeds Wesley Koolhof and Jean-Julien Rojer beat Italian wild cards Marco Cecchinato and Stefano Travaglia 4-6, 6-1, 10-7. Koolhof is seeking his second title of the season after winning Munich with Krawietz.
In the only other completed match, Lukasz Kubot and Franko Skugor beat Greek sibling duo Petros Tsitsipas and Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(7), 6-3.
When there’s a rain delay like there was on Tuesday evening at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, nobody sees what the players do once off the court. So what happens as they wait out the weather indoors?
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic brought fans behind the scenes after he finished off Taylor Fritz in straight sets. The Serbian explained how he passed the nearly three hours of time between leaving Center Court and returning later in the evening.
“We played a social game. It wasn’t Uno, it was Parcheesi,” Djokovic said. “We do play that daily now. We try to kill some time with that.”
Last year, Djokovic spoke about how much his team enjoyed playing UNO, a card game. But now they are having fun with Parcheesi, which Rafael Nadal has long played with his team.
The Serbian acknowledged that there is a fair amount of uncertainty during rain delays, especially when it comes to figuring out when play will resume. That affects when the player has to warm up and eat, among other things.
“Every half an hour it’s a checkpoint, and they will let you know whether the match is postponed or they’re going to call it or they’re just going to call it a night, then you have to go to hotel,” Djokovic said. “Also with eating, whether you rest or you get some sleep or not. You really have to feel yourself and know what’s best for you. Sometimes if you fall asleep, wake up, maybe it takes time to get those engines moving.”
On Tuesday, the World No. 1 didn’t take a nap. Instead, he spent the delay with his team.
“I was awake. I was listening to some music, talked to my coach about his observation of my game, what needs to be done better. But we also had some fun,” Djokovic said. “I spoke to my kids. There’s always something to do. I was definitely not bored.”
Djokovic will next play Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Briton Cameron Norrie for a spot in the quarter-finals. The top seed is pursuing his sixth title at the Foro Italico this week.
Nine-time champion Rafael Nadal will take the court Wednesday against Jannik Sinner at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The 34-year-old has faced the #NextGenATP star just once before, beating him at Roland Garros last year in straight sets.
“I try my best every single day, doesn’t matter the opponent,” Nadal said. “Tomorrow I need to play well, of course. I know he’s playing well. I know he’s going to be excited about the match. So am I.”
Nadal and Sinner were also practice partners during the lead-up to the Australian Open. Sinner recently cracked the Top 20 in the FedEx ATP Rankings after reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 in Miami and upsetting Andrey Rublev on his way to the Barcelona semi-finals.
“I think the past couple of weeks have been quite good,” Sinner said. “I have to say starting from Miami, then coming back on clay, I played actually the first week quite well in Monte-Carlo. So [that] gave me a little bit of confidence for Barcelona and I played some good matches there.”
Third seed Daniil Medvedev will face off against countryman Aslan Karatsev after rain cancelled their match on Tuesday. It will be their first ATP Head2Head meeting.
Karatsev is 20-6 this season while Medvedev has yet to find his footing on clay. After testing positive for COVID-19 in Monte-Carlo, he lost in the third round of Madrid. Karatsev is 7-3 on clay after a final run in Belgrade saw him take out World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
Dominic Thiem will open his Rome campaign against Marton Fucsovics. Thiem won their only meeting two years ago in Hamburg and enters the week on the heels of a semi-final appearance in Madrid. Fucsovics, a finalist in Rotterdam in March, is seeking his first clay-court win of the season.
Elsewhere, Madrid champion Alexander Zverev will take on qualifier Hugo Dellien and fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas will face 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic. Madrid finalist and home favorite Matteo Berrettini plays his second-round against John Millman and seventh seed Rublev will battle Jan-Lennard Struff.
[WATCH LIVE 1]ORDER OF PLAY – WEDNESDAY, MAY 12, 2021
CENTER COURT start 10:00 am
[4] D. Thiem (AUT) vs M. Fucsovics (HUN)
WTA – S. Sorribes Tormo (ESP) vs [7] A. Sabalenka (BLR)
Not Before 2.00PM
WTA – [8] S. Williams (USA) vs N. Podoroska (ARG)
[9] M. Berrettini (ITA) vs J. Millman (AUS)
Not Before 6:00 pm
J. Sinner (ITA) vs [2] R. Nadal (ESP)
GRAND STAND ARENA start 10:00 am
[10] R. Bautista Agut (ESP) vs C. Garin (CHI)
[WC] G. Mager (ITA) vs L. Sonego (ITA)
A. Karatsev (RUS) vs [3] D. Medvedev (RUS)
WTA – [4] S. Kenin (USA) vs B. Krejcikova (CZE)
PIETRANGELI start 10:00 am
WTA – [1] A. Barty (AUS) vs [DA SR] Y. Shvedova (KAZ)
WTA – J. Pegula (USA) vs [2] N. Osaka (JPN)
[6] A. Zverev (GER) vs [Q] H. Dellien (BOL)
M. Cilic (CRO) vs [5] S. Tsitsipas (GRE)
[13] D. Shapovalov (CAN) vs [WC] S. Travaglia (ITA)
COURT 1 start 10:00 am
WTA – [9] K. Pliskova (CZE) vs A. Sevastova (LAT)
WTA – [Q] V. Zvonareva (RUS) vs [11] P. Kvitova (CZE)
[Q] F. Delbonis (ARG) vs [12] D. Goffin (BEL)
[WC] L. Sonego (ITA) / A. Vavassori (ITA) vs A. Mannarino (FRA) / B. Paire (FRA)
COURT 4 start 10:00 am
[Q] C. Norrie (GBR) vs [Q] A. Davidovich Fokina (ESP)
J. Struff (GER) vs [7] A. Rublev (RUS)
[1] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs [WC] F. Fognini (ITA) / L. Musetti (ITA)
A. de Minaur (AUS) / J. Struff (GER) vs [3] I. Dodig (CRO) / F. Polasek (SVK)
M. Purcell (AUS) / L. Saville (AUS) vs [Alt] L. Broady (GBR) / A. Murray (GBR)
S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL) vs [5] R. Ram (USA) / J. Salisbury (GBR)
COURT 6 start 10:00 am
WTA – D. Jurak (CRO) / A. Klepac (SLO) vs [6] H. Chan (TPE) / L. Chan (TPE)
WTA – [ND] A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) / M. Niculescu (ROU) vs [8] G. Dabrowski (CAN) / A. Muhammad (USA)
[Alt] M. Arevalo (ESA) / M. Middelkoop (NED) vs D. Evans (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR)
A. Bublik (KAZ) / C. Garin (CHI) vs [2] N. Mektic (CRO) / M. Pavic (CRO)
[4] M. Granollers (ESP) / H. Zeballos (ARG) vs A. Molteni (ARG) / D. Schwartzman (ARG)
M. Gonzalez (ARG) / F. Martin (FRA) vs R. Klaasen (RSA) / B. McLachlan (JPN)
Novak Djokovic launches into a furious outburst at the umpire during his Italian Open win against Taylor Fritz over playing conditions.
On a rainy Tuesday, Novak Djokovic managed to close out a 6-3, 7-6(5) win over Taylor Fritz in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. All other remaining matches have been cancelled including Daniil Medvedev’s showdown with Aslan Karatsev.
Djokovic and Fritz’s most recent encounter was a five-set battle in the third round of the Australian Open, but this time Djokovic came out sharp. The Serbian broke in Fritz’s first service game, and made 70 per cent of his first serves in the opening set to comfortably close it out.
“It was a very strange match with strange conditions. Obviously playing under the rain non-stop for almost two full sets, it is challenging for both me and him,” Djokovic said. “I thought that I had an advantage there because the conditions were slower which allows me to return his serves, because he’s got really big serves.”
The second set began in nearly identical fashion with Djokovic breaking in the first game to establish early dominance. The World No. 1 had to step his level up to save a two break points at 4-3, but then Fritz went for broke on Djokovic’s next service game at 5-4 and was rewarded for it by evening out the match. After already playing most of the match in rainy conditions, play was stopped at 5-5 at 4:40 p.m.
“I kind of kept the match under my control for most part of the two sets, then served for the match; very sloppy service game,” Djokovic said. “He played well, made a great passing shot to come back. I was stressed out in the end obviously, but I think it was the right call to stop the match.”
When they returned to the court three hours later, both players held serve comfortably and Djokovic closed out the win on his first match point in the tie-break. Djokovic is 4-2 since winning his 17th major at the Australian Open after a third-round exit in Monte-Carlo and a semi-final appearance in Belgrade.
“I haven’t played a lot at all, so I don’t feel physically exhausted or worn out,” Djokovic said.
Djokovic improves to 4-0 in his ATP Head2Head Series against Fritz as he looks to defend his crown in Rome where he is 56-9 with five titles. He’ll next face either Cameron Norrie or Alejandro Davidovich Fokina.
Stefanos Tsitsipas has plenty to be excited about this week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, where he made the semi-finals two years ago. Despite a third-round loss last week in Madrid, the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion still leads the FedEx ATP Race To Turin.
“That’s great news that I’m still there. I’m fighting for it every single week,” Tsitsipas said. “I didn’t have a very good week last week in Madrid, but so far it’s looking good. I’ve been very consistent, which obviously helps being in that situation. I’m looking forward to performing the same way, doing better and perform even better in the future.”
The Greek star is also looking forward to playing on grass and hard courts later in the season and maintaining his form throughout. The 22-year-old is keen to adapt well to every surface.
“I want to be a complete player,” Tsitsipas said. “That’s important for my psychological state, knowing that I can play on every surface.”
After winning his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and reaching the final of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where he held championship point against Rafael Nadal before falling short, Tsitsipas lost in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open. Norwegian Casper Ruud, who eventually made the semi-finals, stopped him there.
“I think you can take the good and the bad things from every situation, whether that would be [losing in] the first round or winning a tournament. You can always come into the next week with something better. For me personally, obviously my opponent played better and it wasn’t meant [to be] for me to be that day. I took that opportunity to come here earlier, prepare, acclimatise to the new conditions.”
The conditions in Rome are closer to those in Monte-Carlo than they are to Madrid, where altitude makes it quicker. Tsitsipas is simply focussing on the task at hand and what he’s dealing with at the Foro Italico, where he will begin his run against former World No. 3 Marin Cilic.
“Tennis is different and that’s what I’m expecting this week,” Tsitsipas said. “It’s a new tournament, you never know who you’ll have to face, how ready you have to be. Every tournament has something unique and different to offer. Again, just staying humble, working my way up and seeing if things are going to work again.”
Did You Know?
Tsitsipas played doubles this week with his brother, Petros Tsitsipas. They lost on Tuesday against Lukasz Kubot and Franko Skugor.
Rafael Nadal says he does not know if he will compete at the Tokyo Olympics because of uncertainty relating to the coronavirus pandemic.